Warning: Spoilers from the Kakashi Gaiden arc nn;

Everybody fails at least once

There's no shame in that

Kakashi was running, fast, through Konoha, as if he was being chased. Well, it did look like he was being chased since Naruto following, doing his best to keep up his teacher. If Kakashi had seemed fast before, it was nothing compared to the speed that he was going at now.

Still, Naruto was doing pretty damn good.

All this wasn't a coincidence, and Kakashi knew that. The world wasn't nice enough to allow room for coincidences. He'd never described Obito to Naruto, and he somehow doubted that anyone, even Sasuke or Itachi, knew or remembered who Obito was, let alone what he looked like.

Short, spiky black hair, Sharingan in right eye, goggles…It just couldn't be a coincidence.

And it couldn't be anyone else either.

Right?

They reached the memorial stone very quickly, and Kakashi skid to a halt just in front of it, and quickly looked around.

No one.

He looked again, as Naruto arrived behind him, panting for breath. The sunshine was strong by now, and the surrounding forest cast shadows all around the place. Still, nothing in the dark shadows either. Nothing anywhere.

"He's not here anymore," Naruto observed, although Kakashi doubted that even Naruto was dim-witted enough to not realize that yes, Kakashi knew that the ghost was no longer there.

He ran through the possibility of Naruto making it all up. Yes, the boy was a prankster. Still, as Kakashi had thought before, Naruto's description was all too accurate to be a joke. Right?

Yes, of course, right. Kakashi was always right. He was, after all, a genius.

No coincidences in this godforsaken world of theirs.

"I know," Kakashi said, considering uncovering his Sharingan just to check. Could the Sharingan see ghosts? No, he didn't need the Sharingan. Unless Naruto was better at hiding secrets than Kakashi thought, Naruto had no Sharingan and he still saw Obito with his own two eyes.

Wait, no. Ghosts didn't exist. Naruto couldn't have seen Obito –

For what seemed to be the umpteenth time, the evil little word popped up in Kakashi's mind –

Right?

"Kakashi-sensei, why were you so anxious?" Naruto asked, extremely curious and unable to keep it from showing in his face.

"Ah…nothing."

He'd never known why he didn't tell the members of Team 7 about Uchiha Obito. It didn't really seem important. So what if they knew Kakashi gained his Sharingan from his friend while he was dying? It wasn't going to make Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura stronger, or make them better friends, or help them at all, really. If anything, it'd make them uncomfortable.

Talking about dead people usually wasn't a very good choice of topic for conversation.

"Did you know him?"

"Dunno," was Kakashi's vague reply.

Any other person would've seen that Kakashi was either not comfortable with the topic or simply did not want to say anything on it, and would've left it at that. But Naruto kept at it.

Naruto was working hard at putting two and two together.

…And he was getting five.

"Was he your twin? Hey, that's it, isn't it? He's your twin, and you're actually related to the Uchiha family but because you have a twin the Sharingan was split between the both of you–"

"Naruto…" Kakashi turned around, looking slightly exasperated and not showing any of the other emotions that were causing chaos within him. "Think about it. According to your description, this ghost and I don't look alike at all. And no, I am not related to the Uchiha family in any way aside from my Sharingan."

"Aw…" Naruto scowled. "I was sure that was the answer!"

Kakashi was hoping it'd end at that, but Naruto didn't let that happen.

"So, was he your friend? You did know him, right? Yeah, you did…otherwise you wouldn't have ran so quickly. He's not your twin, so he's probably not your brother…he's your friend! He has to be! Or is he your rival or enemy or something? Did you kill him and now he's coming back to haunt you?"

Naruto blinked.

He was talking to the air, which was slightly tinged with chakra smoke.

"Dammit!" Naruto swore, punching his palm. Kakashi had simply disappeared in that rather aggravating way of his. He scanned the area around him, but saw no sign of the silver-haired jounin and sighed again.

Seemed like he wasn't going to learn anything about his ghost and its relationship with Kakashi that day.

Hinata was taking a walk. Well, that was because there wasn't much else to do, really. Her father was sparring with Neji, she couldn't find Shino and Kiba – besides, if she did, how would that help? She was too shy to participate in anything they did.

Anyway, she liked taking walks. It was quiet and peaceful and she didn't have to worry so much about those around her. And, maybe, she'd see Naruto practicing or training. Naruto trained almost as much as Rock Lee, who she saw every day. Okay…not 'almost'. He didn't train nearly as much as Lee, because that was almost impossible, but he did train a lot.

She hadn't seen Naruto today though. Still…what did it matter? She only watched from afar, anyways…

She brushed an inquisitive bug away from her arm, vaguely thinking of the silent Shino. Maybe she should try and capture it and give it to Shino…but, he probably already had one in his collection already. There were very few bugs that Shino didn't have in his collection.

A small flower caught Hinata's attention. It was blooming beneath a large tree, branches splayed out over it. From where she stood, it didn't look like it was getting much sunshine at all as the tree's leaves served as a very effective shield, so she wondered how it was blooming so healthily.

Walking over, she was quick to see that two of the front petals, seperated only by a normal petal in between, were shaped almost like wings, fringed at one long edge. It made for a very beautiful flower, like a heron spreading its wings to fly off, or maybe just an angel's wings. However, unlike other girls, she never even considered picking it – it would die, eventually, and it seemed too beautiful to touch.

Hinata got up and, thinking about going to see Ino and asking about the flower's name – Ino would know, she worked in a flower shop – when she spotted a flash of dark blue a few trees away. Blinking, mildly curious, she wondered who it was. The only people she knew who wore dark blue was Sasuke, and at that he still only wore blue sometimes.

Then again, she couldn't expect others to wear the exact same clothing every day, could she? So, quietly, she pushed her way through the forest plants to get a closer look.

The other was standing with his back towards her, baring a symbol she'd seen before. Hinata squinted, although there was no need to do so, and thought of Sasuke again. Yes – it was the Uchiha clan symbol. Was it Sasuke?

If it was, he'd gotten a haircut that looked like Naruto's. That wouldn't make sense – why would he do that, it seemed to her like that hated…no, that was too strong a word. Disliked. Disliked each other.

But Sasuke was the only survivor of the Uchiha clan. She'd never been quite sure as to what had happened to the Uchiha clan, but she knew that Sasuke was the only survivor. So, it had to be Sasuke.

The person she assumed to be Sasuke turned around, and in that instant she knew that it wasn't Sasuke.

Wider, larger eyes, for one. No brooding frown. And, the last time she checked, Sasuke didn't wear orange goggles.

"Uh…!" Hinata half-smiled nervously, instantly clasping her hands in front of her and bowing. "H-Hello." She straightened up again and looked away, wondering if she should leave.

When there was no response, she chanced a quick glance at the other. She quickly saw his lips move, but there was no sound. Curiosity getting the better of her, she slowly turned her head back and looked directly at him, staring into his eyes. They were very black, like fathomless pits, so she looked away again. Still, he was smiling, and that seemed friendly enough.

He shrugged, and moved his lips again, soundlessly. Movement caused Hinata to look away again, but it was only his hand, raising in a wave. The next moment, he'd turned around and was disappearing further into the forest.

"Um…" Hinata watched him leave, still thinking, The Uchiha clan was wiped out…

Woot! –happy- People like the fic! XD; As you may be able to tell now, this isn't a one-shot. X3; Should've put that in there before, sorry xx;

WTF, Fanfiction doesn't put in underscores o.O;And a bunch of other stuff.Had to edit this chapter 2 times to get the little ruler-divider things in >>

Now you can either rejoice or…throw rotten stuff at me. Oo;